We get different versions of this question, a lot: “I love mentor texts. I totally see why they are beneficial. But my students are struggling to notice craft in them.” or “My students have gotten pretty good at noticing surface-level craft moves, but after they’ve noticed one or two things — they’re done. How do […]
Sometime during the first week of school this year, I taped this note to my desk: I wanted this year to be different. Not just different than the last few years of COVID School, but different than all the other years of my teaching that valued efficiency and productivity almost above all. (I love efficiency. […]
I’ll admit: I’m a sucker for beautiful notebook work. I will tell students that the quality of the thinking is really what matters — and I mean it. But I also swoon when I see gorgeous notebook pages. I associate gorgeous “two-page spreads” with Penny Kittle and the thinking she has been sharing with teachers […]
We haven’t asked in a while, so we’re asking! What would you like to learn about in writing pd? What are those nagging pebbles in your teacher shoes that you just can’t figure out? What would help you grow in your practice so you can move writers in your classroom? We’re all ears! Please share […]
Each month in the Moving Writers Community, I share a complete reading or writing unit plan from my classroom. But this month, by popular demand, I am instead sharing an 11-page e-book detailing the process and resources I use for Kelly Gallagher’s famous Article of the Week in my own classroom. Here’s what you’ll find […]
For the last two — almost three — years I’ve been in survival mode. Pandemic stress + endless COVID-school shifts + serious health issues in my family have left me treading water. And, to be honest, when you’re drowning, you’re not pondering innovative ways of getting to the shore; you are grasping for survival in […]
Students + teachers alike benefit from predictable patterns of learning: routines and structures that allow all of us to be fully present in the classroom. But there are so many good things in reading workshop and writing workshop — is there a way to do them all and still have a predictable pattern of learning? How do […]
Moving Writers has always existed to support writing teachers, and the Moving Writers Community is just our even-more-intimate version of that. A place to receive ideas and resources, a place for professional development, and a place to talk — to ask questions and get answers without judgment, to swap ideas, to be in community with […]
After a six-month soft launch, Sam and I are officially launching Mini Moves for Writers, a YouTube channel where anyone can access free writing mini-lessons to make writing stronger, more full of voice, and more true to your writerly intentions. Here’s a wee trailer: We hope that we can be apart of your writing instruction […]
One of the things I’m loving most about Mini Moves for Writers is how flexible the video lessons are — able to slide into so many different kinds of writing units and activities. For example, take the Scene Drop Intro. Writers could use this in a review, an op-ed, a profile, a personal essay. And […]
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